National Great Blacks In Wax Museum

The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum is a wax museum in Baltimore, Maryland featuring prominent African-American historical figures. It was established in 1983, in a downtown storefront on Saratoga Street.

The museum is currently located on 1601 East North Avenue in a renovated firehouse, a Victorian Mansion, and two former apartment dwellings that provide nearly 30,000 square feet (3,000 m²) of exhibit and office space. The exhibits feature over 100 wax figures and scenes, a full model slave ship exhibit which portrays the 400-year history of the Atlantic Slave Trade, an exhibit on the role of youth in making history, and a Maryland room highlighting the contributions to African American history by notable Marylanders.

History

The National Great Blacks in Wax museum is Baltimore's first wax museum and the first wax museum of African American history in the nation. The museum was started as a grassroots operation by Dr. Elmer Martin and his wife Dr. Joanna Martin.

The idea of Blacks in Wax started with a few wax figures that were taken around to various schools, community centers, and malls. It received national recognition in 1983 when the founding members were allotted grants, loans, and endowments to open a permanent exhibition. In 1988, Blacks in Wax received its permanent home on the 1600 block of North Avenue in the neighborhood of Oliver.

The museum was originally sponsored exclusively by Dr. Elmer Martin, his wife Dr. Joanna Martin, and donations from the community. In the early days, Dr. Elmer Martin was forced to ask his wife to sell her wedding ring to keep the moving exhibit going. However, in 1983 the project was awarded several loans and grants in order to obtain a permanent home, and now survives on admissions, loans, grants, and endowments.

The site was originally home to a firehouse that was converted into a showhouse. In 2004, The Blacks in Wax Museum was recognized by the U.S. Congress and became The National Blacks in Wax Museum.

People featured in museum

The following people have been depicted at the museum:

Sources

National Blacks in Wax Museum. http://www.greatblacksinwax.org. Accessed November 30, 2010.
"National Great Blacks In Wax Museum." http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/11009. Accessed November 30, 2010.
Wood, M. (2009), 'Slavery, Memory, and Museum Display in Baltimore: The Great Blacks in Wax and the Reginald F. Lewis. Curator:' The Museum Journal, 52: 147–167. 2001.

Coordinates: 39°18′44″N 76°35′48″W / 39.3121°N 76.5968°W / 39.3121; -76.5968

External links

National Great Blacks In Wax Museum - Official site
Great Blacks in Wax Museum on Google Street View

Museums in Maryland

Art	Academy Art African Art Museum of Maryland American Visionary Art Art Gallery at the University of Maryland Baltimore Museum of Art Brooke Whiting House of Art Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture Charm City Art Space Contemporary Havre de Grace Decoy Museum Janus Museum Maryland Art Place Maryland Institute College of Art Galleries Ratner Museum Strathmore Walters Art Museum Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art Washington County Fine Arts

Aerospace & Aviation	College Park Aviation Museum Glenn L. Martin Maryland Aviation Museum Goddard Visitor Center Hagerstown Aviation Museum Patuxent River Naval Air Museum

Entertainment	Chesapeake Children's Museum Geppi's Entertainment Port Discovery Radio & Television Museum Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum

History & Historic houses	Adkins Historical Museum Baltimore Museum of Industry Banneker-Douglass Museum Barbara Fritchie House and Museum Beall-Dawson House Belair Mansion Belair Stable Museum Benson–Hammond House Bowman House Button Farm Living History Center Clara Barton National Historic Site Carroll County Farm Museum Carroll Mansion Costen House Cray House Darnall's Chance Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum Evergreen Museum & Library Flag House Furnace Town Girdletree Barnes Bank Government House Great Blacks in Wax Museum Hager House Hammond–Harwood House Hampton National Historic Site Hancock's Resolution His Lordship's Kindness Historic London Town Historic St. Mary's City Homewood Museum J. Millard Tawes Historical Museum Jerusalem Mill Village Julia A. Purnell Museum Kennedy Farm Ladew Topiary Gardens La Grange Plantation Laurel Museum Marietta House Museum Maryland Historical Society Maryland State House Miller House Museum Montpelier Mansion Mother Seton House Mount Clare Museum House Mount Harmon Plantation Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm Pemberton Hall National Colonial Farm Poplar Hill Mansion Riversdale Rose Hill Manor Park & Children's Museum Schifferstadt Architectural Museum Smallwood State Park Sotterley Plantation Star Spangled Banner Flag House and 1812 Museum Steppingstone Museum Surratt House Museum Susquehanna State Park Taylor House Teackle Mansion Thomas Stone National Historic Site Tudor Hall (Bel Air, Maryland) Tudor Hall (Leonardtown, Maryland) Union Mills Homestead William Paca House & Garden

Maritime	Annapolis Maritime Museum Calvert Marine Museum Capt. Salem Avery House Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum Concord Point Lighthouse Cove Point Light Havre de Grace Maritime Museum Historic Ships in Baltimore Joppa Wharf Museum Maryland Dove Ocean City Life-Saving Station Museum Point Lookout Light Richardson Maritime Museum Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse Tilghman Watermen's Museum Turkey Point Light Station Upper Bay Museum U.S. Naval Academy Museum Waterman's Museum

Military	Airmen Memorial Museum Antietam National Battlefield Bainbridge Naval Training Center Museum Fort Frederick State Park Fort George G. Meade Museum Fort McHenry Fort Washington Park Maryland Museum of Military History Monocacy National Battlefield National Cryptologic Museum Point Lookout State Park

Railway	B&O Railroad Museum Baltimore Streetcar Museum Boonsboro Trolley Museum Brunswick Heritage Museum Chesapeake Beach Railway Museum Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum Huntington Railroad Museum La Plata Train Station Marion Station Railroad Museum National Capital Trolley Museum Perryville Railway Museum Queponco Railway Station Stevensville Train Depot The Train Room and Museum Walkersville Southern Railroad Museum Western Maryland Railway Historical Society Museum

Science, Natural History & Medicine	Baltimore Public Works Museum Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge B. Olive Cole Pharmacy Museum Cylburn Nature Museum Deep Creek Lake Discovery Center Discovery Station Eden Mill Nature Center Lamar Heritage and Culture Center Maryland Science Center National Electronics Museum National Museum of Dentistry National Museum of Civil War Medicine National Wildlife Visitor Center at Patuxent Research Refuge Stonestreet Museum of 19th Century Medicine University of Maryland School of Nursing Living History Museum William P. Didusch Center for Urologic History

Sports	Babe Ruth Lacrosse Sailing Sports Legends

Transportation	Bob's Vintage Museum Canal Place C&D Canal Museum Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park Queen City Transportation Museum Thrasher Carriage Museum Wheels of Yesterday

Heritage	Banneker-Douglass Museum Jewish Museum of Maryland Latvian Museum National Slavic Museum Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture

Miscellaneous	Anne Arundel County Free School Christian Heritage Museum George Alfred Townsend Museum Mt. Zion One Room School National Museum of Language National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton St. Martin's Episcopal Church Museum Phoenix Shot Tower Sturgis One Room School Wye Grist Mill

Ethnic history of Baltimore

Groups	African Americans Czechs French Germans Greeks Hispanics and Latinos Irish Italians Jews Koreans Lithuanians Native Americans Poles Russians Ukrainians

Ethnic enclaves	Chinatown Corned Beef Row French Town Greektown Koreatown Little Bohemia Little Italy Little Lithuania Little Poland Little Ukrainian Village Otterbein Spanish Town

Institutions	Baltimore American Indian Center Baltimore Hebrew University Bohemian National Cemetery Christ United Church of Christ Concordia Hall Grand Lodge Č.S.P.S. of Baltimore Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation Hebrew Orphan Asylum Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church Holy Rosary Church Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church Jewish Museum of Maryland Lithuanian Hall National Great Blacks In Wax Museum National Slavic Museum Oblate Sisters of Providence Otterbein Church Our Lady of Pompeii Church Polish Home Hall Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture Royal Theatre St. Alphonsus Church St. Casimir Church St. Elizabeth of Hungary St. Francis Xavier Church St. Leo's Church St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church St. Peter the Apostle Church Sts. Peter & Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church St. Vincent de Paul Church St. Wenceslaus in Baltimore Transfiguration of our Lord Russian Orthodox Church Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association Building Zion Lutheran Church

Events	Baltimore riot of 1968 2015 Baltimore protests

Media	Ethnic press in Baltimore (Baltimore Afro-American Baltimore Jewish Times Baltimore Wecker Latin Opinion Telegraf Where What When)

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National Great Blacks In Wax Museum

History

People featured in museum

See also

Sources

External links